MotoAmerica KTM Cup racers head across the pond
News Release
Five deserving MotoAmerica racers will get the trip of a lifetime this week when they venture to the Silverstone Circuit in England to take part in the KTM RC Cup World Finals, October 2-4.
MotoAmerica’s inaugural KTM RC Cup Champion Gage McAllister will lead the charge as America takes on the world. He’ll be joined at Silverstone for the two eight-lap World Final races by two-time race winners Anthony Mazziotto III and Braeden Ortt, and the fourth- and fifth-ranked racers in the 2015 MotoAmerica KTM RC Cup Series, Hayden Schultz and Justin McWilliams.
The five will take on a field made up of the top five from the KTM RC Cup Series from six other countries in a battle that will take place on the 3.6-mile Silverstone circuit in East Midlands, England. The KTM RC Cup World Finals will run in conjunction with the 2015 MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship round and will run as a race within a race with the BSB round of the KTM RC Cup.
The battle for the top five in the 2015 MotoAmerica KTM RC Cup Series went down to the wire at the New Jersey Motorsports Park, September 11-13, with Schultz and McWilliams securing the last two spots in the final race.
“I’m not really sure what we’re going to be put up against with the other riders,” said McAllister, who won five MotoAmerica KTM RC Cup races en route to the title. “Just because they are on different tires (Metzler and not the Dunlop spec tires used in MotoAmerica) and they don’t run rain (tires) in the rain and I think it rains over there a lot. If it rains and we’re on DOTs then it is going to be a lot different racing, but either way I’m looking forward to a good battle. Everybody there is there for a reason so it’s going to be a good race.”
Mazziotto, meanwhile, was planning on playing video games prior to heading to England to help familiarize himself with a new racetrack.
“Heading to Silverstone is going to definitely be a game-changer,” Mazziotto said. “I may have to learn to ride the DOTs in the wet as it goes on, but I hope us Americans can make a good group and learn the track fast and maybe we can make a gap on everyone else – show that USA Proud and that we do it well over here.”
McAllister wasn’t expecting an overly difficult learning curve, and is confident the Americans can get up to speed quickly.
“Just some on-board videos,” McAllister said of his pre-race learning experience. “That’s normally what I focus on if I don’t know the track. Just a couple of laps so you know where it’s going. Luckily these bikes only have so much of a limit, so it’s easy to reach that limit and learning the track on a bike that’s not so fast is easier.”
MotoAmerica President and three-time World Champion Wayne Rainey knows the feeling of that first international race.
“There’s nothing like going overseas for your first race,” Rainey said. “It’s an experience these kids will never forget and they need to enjoy it for all it’s worth. They get to ride on a really nice Grand Prix track and they get to race against other kids from around the world to see how they stack up. It doesn’t get much better than that. I’m pumped for them and wish them the best. I know they will represent MotoAmerica in the best way possible.”
The five riders from the MotoAmerica Series range in age from 15 (Mazziotto and Ortt) to 22 (McWilliams). The riders will represent four states – California (McAllister), New Jersey (Mazziotto), Florida (Schultz), Texas (McWilliams) – and Canada (Ortt).
Ortt, who finished third in the MotoAmerica RC Cup Series, will be riding with a broken hand, the result of his practice crash at NJMP. He is scheduled to undergo surgery after returning from Great Britain.
